Coinbase’s Acquisition of Brazilian Exchange Mercado Bitcoins ‘2TM’ Falls Apart

• President Jair Bolsonaro is anticipated to put the bill into law this year.
• Rio de Janeiro will accept Bitcoin (BTC) payments for taxes on urban real estate.

According to reports, Coinbase and the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin, 2TM, have ended discussions over a possible acquisition of the firm. 2TM and Coinbase, according to a Bloomberg article published on Tuesday, have stopped talks over the US crypto exchange purchasing the $2 billion Brazilian company. However, as 2TM refused to comment and a Coinbase representative claimed it was “committed to the Brazilian market,” it’s not obvious why the acquisition didn’t go through.

Immense Potential in Brazil

In July 2021 that 2TM became a unicorn when a $200 million fundraising round pushed the company’s value above the $2 billion mark, cementing its place as one of Latin America’s top crypto brokerage businesses. Before Coinbase’s rumored ambitions to buy 2TM were made public in March, reports estimated the company was worth $2.2 billion. In addition, CriptoLoja, a Lisbon-based crypto exchange, was bought by 2TM in January.

In December 2021, a Coinbase institutional investor report on Latin America indicated the potential for growing operations in the country’s capital city of Rio de Janeiro. President Jair Bolsonaro is anticipated to put the bill into law this year after the Brazilian Senate adopted it in April. In March, Rio de Janeiro will accept Bitcoin (BTC) payments for taxes on urban real estate inside municipal borders beginning in 2023. Moreover, Rio is Brazil’s second-largest city.

US-based crypto-exchange Coinbase has allegedly made acquisition bids to other blockchain and crypto companies worldwide. For example, bison Trails (a blockchain infrastructure platform) and Routefire (an upgraded trading platform) were acquired by Coinbase in January 2021.